DES MOINES, Iowa – At the end of a virtual veterans roundtable event on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, confirmed her support of impeaching President Donald Trump. She also said the breach of the Capitol last week disrupted her schedule and has raised safety concerns.
She canceled one event and made Tuesday’s veterans’ event a virtual roundtable instead of an in-person event.
“It’s another example of being pulled away from doing the people’s work here because of something that honestly should have never happened in our country. And so yes, it’s disrupting my schedule as a result of it to be able to have events like this in district,” Axne said.
She also noted that the Capitol riot had raised safety concerns about traveling back to Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District.
“We have already seen that we have some of the perpetrators on the of the Capitol (riot) here in our district. One’s already been arrested. The last thing as a mom I want to do is put any of my staff in danger, along with myself, of course. But as a mom, I would not want to endanger any of my staff by putting them in a position… You know, the unfortunate thing is as much as I trust Iowans, and I think we’re good people here, I think last week was a pretty good example of you just don’t know, better safe than sorry,” Axne said, responding to a question from The Des Moines Register.
She said she felt confident that the police in the district would step up to protect an event in the district if she needed it.
“Here’s what I feel safe about, I feel safe that if I, if I requested it, and needed it that those who serve our country or are part of our police force would be there and do everything they possibly could to protect myself, my staff and any of the public that has come out. But I would rather err on the side of caution, Axne said.
“We have just a very short period of time where we may have to do that. And I think it’s a wiser move to make. Why put other folks in possible danger? You know, I just don’t know. I mean, that’s really it. I didn’t expect to see our constituents on the front page of every paper being arrested at the Capitol. I think the folks on this call, who’ve served our country certainly understand that they’d prefer to avoid conflict and then then have conflict. And if there’s anything that I can do to make that happen during a tough time, I’m gonna make that happen,” she added.
House Democrats plan to vote on an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Wednesday. They voted in favor of a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Vice President Mike Pence refused to do that in a letter sent to Congress.
Axne supported the resolution and a move by House Democrats to impeach the president for a second time following the Capitol riot. Trump’s critics accused him of inciting the violence and delaying sending help to Congress when the Capitol was breached.
“Once again, we’re at a point in this country where no one wants to be literally no one wants to be here. I don’t want to have to have another discussion about impeaching the president,” she stated. “We had Capital Officers killed by Americans. by Americans, they dragged them down the stairs and beat them. If we do not hold the insiders for this accountable, and that includes the president, who unfortunately, push this narrative year after year, to a point where he engaged with folks to literally come to the Capitol and fight. And those were his words,” she stated.
Axne said Trump remaining in office for even a few days is “too dangerous.”
“I believe he’s a danger to this country. And so do we. And so we’ll be bringing those to the floor. And I don’t want to hear any of this business of well; he’s only there a couple of weeks. This isn’t a middle management job somewhere where somebody is there a couple of weeks, you know, they’re just not getting some work done. This is the President of the United States of America, the most powerful country, the most powerful leader in the world. The folks that are on this call know very well with me what that power holds,” she asserted.
Axne said because Pence will not invoke the 25th Amendment, Congress has “limited options.”
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